So true! I've seen purple, blue, white, yellow, etc. etc. You wouldn't think it would differ that much, but it does.

Chase

Shot a thunderstorm the other night and I had purples and blue/white shots. Ive noticed sometimes the color of the bolts are sometimes changed by the light pollution in the clouds and the distance of the bolts. Also whether its CC or CG lightning makes a big difference.

Shot a thunderstorm the other night and I had purples and blue/white shots. Ive noticed sometimes the color of the bolts are sometimes changed by the light pollution in the clouds and the distance of the bolts. Also whether its CC or CG lightning makes a big difference.

Lightning itself is always white... the color cast is from the air molecules in the vicinity of the lightning bolt.

Fireworks guys (pyrotechnicians) rely on the excitation of gases released by different chemicals in a bocade when they become superheated, and that is the same principle behind different "colors" of lightning.

When processing lightning shots, you should always try to get the bolts as close to white as you can, regardless of what it does to the sky around it. That is how you know what the true color of the sky and ostensibly the molecular breakdown of the atmosphere at that point in time.